Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mushy?

I've used large mason jars to grow sprouts but they tend to get mushy when its hot and humid and require a fair amount of water. I was wondering if anyone has come up with a better more efficient way to sprout that uses less water and won't go mushy in hot humid conditions?

Re: Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mush

The trick to humidity is to try and keep them as ventilated as possible. If you're having trouble, a tray situation might work better than a jar. Mine grow well in summer humidity in a jar and all I do is leave them in the open and lay the jar on it's side so the air can move a little better. They start turning green a little earlier if there's any light, but the air is more important. Just eat them smaller.

Also, make sure you rinse and drain them well. Rinse a few times, let them saturate in clean water for a minute, and then drain it as much as possible, and rinse and drain again. Do it 3 or 4 times a day in the summer if you can.

I don't recall ever having mushy sprouts, but I've gotten some type of fungus growth (on the sprouts!) from too much lingering water that creates it's own humid climate inside the jar. Now I just Drain and rinse them reeeeealy well and as frequently as possible.

Re: Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mush

I used to have a plastic jar kit made for this purpose with a mesh top. The mesh top kept the sprouts ventilated and made it easy to rinse them. Should be easy to fabricate something similar for a mason jar. For example, replace the metal lid with a bit of fiberglassscreen.

Re: Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mush

That's how mine are. A plastic jar (probably peanut butter ) with an aluminumscreen, the type you get for windows, held on with a rubberband. Just rinse directly and drain the water without any mess. Seems to be plenty of ventilation for me. I once had a tray system designed for sprouting, it worked really well and provided a lot more ventilation, but it wasn't suitable for a boat because the trays didn't lock together and slid off easily.

Quote:

Originally Posted by belizesailor

I used to have a plastic jar kit made for this purpose with a mesh top. The mesh top kept the sprouts ventilated and made it easy to rinse them. Should be easy to fabricate something similar for a mason jar. For example, replace the metal lid with a bit of fiberglass screen.

__________________Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend, but the Kisses of the Enemy are Deceitful! ........
A nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves!
Unprepared boaters, end up as floatsum!.......

Re: Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mush

My big sprout jars have plastic mesh tops so they do get ventilation that way. Usually I place the jars upside down after rinsing to keep them from getting mushy. Well, I was hoping there was some super-duper new way of sprouting that uses a lot less water but I guess some things don't change much. I wonder if using trays with mesh on the bottom could be misted with a spray bottle instead of using a lot of water like you do when you rinse? Anyone tried using a spray bottle instead of rinsing?

Re: Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mush

I just quoted your comment with the link to the Mist Generator but it said it would have to be approved by a moderator. I assume that is because I'm new to this forum. Anyway, have you used the Mist Generator?

Re: Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mush

Quote:

Originally Posted by magentawave

I just quoted your comment with the link to the Mist Generator but it said it would have to be approved by a moderator. I assume that is because I'm new to this forum. Anyway, have you used the Mist Generator?

Yeah! You have to get a few more posts under your belt.

And yes I have used one similar and older. When I live on the ranch we would use these for starting spring seeds for going out in the garden. I haven't purchased one of these new ones yet, but it's on my list of cruising items. They always sprouted w/o failure.

__________________Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend, but the Kisses of the Enemy are Deceitful! ........
A nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves!
Unprepared boaters, end up as floatsum!.......

Re: Whats the best way to grow sprouts on a boat with minimal water and won't go mush

BTW they are 110VAC but I have a large inverter and the battery bank to back it up. Plus I'd most likely run it only when batteies are up or while the motor is running.

__________________Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend, but the Kisses of the Enemy are Deceitful! ........
A nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves!
Unprepared boaters, end up as floatsum!.......

Have you used these little tupperware tubs to do other sprouts like alfalfa or radish? Do you know how wide and deep those tubs are in inches?

No, sorry, just the bean sprouts. They are the Glad or Ziplock 3 cups (708 ml) containers. It works so well because Mung beans are bigger than the drainage holes, so I don't think it will work well with smaller seeds.

I'm not sure if translators make the key points from my blog clear so here they are in English:

- you must grow the bean sprouts in the dark. The reason is two-fold: they will grow upwards (thinking they are below ground so grow up instead of random direction).

- you must put a weight on top like I do with a water filled tub. The bean sprouts need to grow strong (=thick) to push that weight up. Don't be afraid to increase that weight as in the end they will overcome it with ease.

- after harvest store them as dry as you can... use paper towel to dry. Give it air flow and keep in fridge. The container I use in the photo is sold specifically for this.